I hope Franco comes back - he could really help us. However, when
players come back, they don't do it using a time machine. I thought
Tiki was underrated his last 4 years of playing. But it's not 2005 anymore.
We won't be getting _that_ Tiki

Tiki may or may not have some game left. It's not a ridiculous idea to bring him to camp and see. He left the game of his own choosing, not due to injury or ineffectiveness. So while there's not much ( if any) precedent of an NFL player coming back after this long away from the game, his situation is different enough from most, that you can't look at it they way you would wityh a typical NFL player attempting a comeback.. Basically the only NFL backs that I can think of that left the game the same way that Tiki did were Barry Sanders, and Jim Brown. Had either of them decided to return to the game at the same age I'm sure there would have been plenty of potential suitors for them as well. ( btw I'm not in any way suggesting that Tiki was as good as either Brown or Sanders, just that they left the game under similair conditions)

Now as for the Steelers situation. Mewelde Moore is certainly no great shakes. To think that Tiki could still have more game than Mewelde at this point isn't that far fetched at all.

I'm guessing that King wouldn't put it out there without some sort of inside knowledge that Tomlin is very tempted to bring Tiki to camp. That doesn't mean that it will happen, or that if it does Tiki will make any sort of positive impression. He's just relaying what he's heard, so we'll have to wait and see where it goes.

Tiki may or may not have some game left. It's not a ridiculous idea to bring him to camp and see. He left the game of his own choosing, not due to injury or ineffectiveness. So while there's not much ( if any) precedent of an NFL player coming back after this long away from the game, his situation is different enough from most, that you can't look at it they way you would wityh a typical NFL player attempting a comeback.. Basically the only NFL backs that I can think of that left the game the same way that Tiki did were Barry Sanders, and Jim Brown. Had either of them decided to return to the game at the same age I'm sure there would have been plenty of potential suitors for them as well. ( btw I'm not in any way suggesting that Tiki was as good as either Brown or Sanders, just that they left the game under similair conditions)

Now as for the Steelers situation. Mewelde Moore is certainly no great shakes. To think that Tiki could still have more game than Mewelde at this point isn't that far fetched at all.

I'm guessing that King wouldn't put it out there without some sort of inside knowledge that Tomlin is very tempted to bring Tiki to camp. That doesn't mean that it will happen, or that if it does Tiki will make any sort of positive impression. He's just relaying what he's heard, so we'll have to wait and see where it goes.

Actually the closest paralell to Tiki might be Ricky Williams who was out of the NFL a couple years due to "personal habits". He's had a pretty good second run with the Dolphins, so who knows, maybe this isn't so far fetched after all?

Actually the closest paralell to Tiki might be Ricky Williams who was out of the NFL a couple years due to "personal habits". He's had a pretty good second run with the Dolphins, so who knows, maybe this isn't so far fetched after all?

Isn't Ricky a tad younger than Tiki? OK, I checked; he's 2 years younger.
Not a ton. But still younger. But I agree Ricky has looked good to me
including last season. Maybe not a 30-carry work horse, but definitely
still can play.

I love it when every player over 32 is old and beat up except for the ones currently on our roster.

That's not really a fair comparison. We are talking about a RUNNING
BACK who is 36. We don't have any RBs who are 36 nor are we to
likely EVER. Also, when a player is already on your roster, you are
fully aware where they stand. Signing a new guy who is 36 and
has been out of football for 4 years is a whole different animal.

Pan down a little on this page, and you will see a chart of all RBs 35 and older
and what kind of production they had. As you can see, the only decent seasons
were by Marcus Allen, and, as I recall, he was mostly a short yardage back
those years - and pretty good at it. He did seem to just play forever. Emmit had
one total so-so, meaningless year in AZ. Other than that, all back 35 or older
pretty much did nothing. I don't care that Tiki took some years off; he is hardly
likely to buck this long-standing trend.